Pontrieux can be delightful. Upstream from Lezardrieux you eventually reach the lock gates and then pass into the tranquil waters of Pontrieux. The moorings are near the steam train station and a 15min walk to the Town.

The Town is very pleasant with some good places to eat. In the summer, they decorate the lavoirs and the place can look beautiful.

Update August / September 2024

Visited in September 2024 with a 11m yacht 1.8m draft and HM found us a berth on the new fingers as too shallow further up. He says they hope to dredge next year after trials at Treguier. Took train to Paimpol & Guingamp – 5 Euros each way (pay on train at Pontrieux if Inspector onboard, pay at ticket office other ends for return).

Stayed a week as winds not suitable to return across the Channel. Half price in September and only pay for 5 days if stay 7 and free showers – a remarkably cheap deal. Harbour Master extremely helpful. Tourist Office speaks English now. Our Garmin GPS shows blue water for the channel (no depths) but makes keeping to the channel very easy.

John

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It was some years since I had been to Pontrieux. The pub and restaurant on the quayside are now both bistros and very busy. The facilities are excellent.

Approaching the quay there is a line of boats moored to trots in the middle of the river. Don’t attempt the port side channel, it seriously needs dredging. My draft is only a yard so I cannot comment further on depths except to say I had no problems.

David

News May 2024

“The bridge at Lezardrieux… the work will not be completed until spring 2025, an extension of a year. The clearance is reduced by a metre due to scaffolding. The bridge is pretty high so will only affect large yachts. Pontrieux needs dredging; vessels drawing much more than 1.5 metres could have a problem in some areas, although the bottom is mud.

Lock / Tide times – port-de-pontrieux.fr/la-capitainerie/les…

30 new berths have been installed recently downstream of the existing pontoons and prior to the trot moorings.  The photograph attached shows them in the far distance. The new berths are for berth holders, not visitors.

Video including Pontrieux – www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxas4ALyJYc&#038…

We visited in late September 2017 and had a great time. With a coefficient of 85, there was plenty of water at high tide. The lock keeper was very helpful and responded on VHF12.

The new pontoons work well and the visitor’s pontoon is just past the fingers. Much improved.

The facilities were the same as previously and were clean and tidy.

A great trip up a beautiful river – especially when the sun is shining.

Between the lock and the harbour, be just careful to keep the green buoys on your right and just after keep the new mooring line (it has been put in place last summer) on your left.

There is about 48m of alongside pontoon for visitors with 1.8 depth and below that soft mud so no problems. There was one spare finger and the harbourmaster guided us to it in his dinghy, depth about 1.9m but again below that soft mud.

John (Sadler 34 – Aqua Ted)

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Digimap report

The lovely village of Pontrieux.

We loved Pontrieux from our first visit a few years ago and wanted to go back.

We made a special effort to go to Pontrieux in early May 2013. The weather was good and the tides were neap with a coeff of 55 (neap tide). However we did not have a problem getting to Pontrieux (draught of 1m). The Pontrieux harbourmaster had said it would be OK and he was right.

We left Lezardrieux 2.5 hours before HW and arrived at the lock just over an hour later. We were travelling at 5 knots and had the tide with us. We never saw less than 2m of water.

There are a few words of warning as there are lots of shallow areas.

1. Stick to the outside of the bends and the middle of the straights
2. The large expanse of water just after the bridge gets very shallow if you go off a direct course, especially if you go too far to the left.
3. Towards the top, there is a red buoy and then a green buoy. Stay close to these as it gets shallower close to the shore (we had to tow a yacht that got stuck)
4. Never go the wrong side of red or green posts or towers
5. Always go up on a rising tide

When you get to the lock, there is a fair bit of room to wait. There are now thick while ropes you can hold on to in the lock. They are not everywhere but should be ample.

I used the latest update from Navionics and the charts for the river were much better than last time. So if you are going to Pontrieux, a chart upgrade would not hurt. We could not find any paper charts of the route. Google maps also has aerial photography which was taken at low tide and you can use that to show your position relative to the shallow areas.

View across the bridge linking the 2 town “squares”. The east one is a triangle, and the west one is a trapezium. The east square contains the tourist information office, which is known locally as the Eiffel Tower – because Gustav Eiffel once slept there

Official web site – port-de-pontrieux.fr/

marinas.com/view/marina/10854_Pontrieux_…
marinas.com/view/lock/515_Pontrieux_Lock…

Pilot Guide
www.letrieux.com/portdepontrieux.htm

Contact information Frederic Grimaud
E-mail:portdepontrieux@eskaledarmor.com

contact.pontrieux@marinov.fr
or frederic.grimaud.ext@suez.com
Office +33 964.417.327
Mobile +33 673.870.795

Tides – www.letrieux.com/horaireeclusepontrieux….

Lock Times – port-de-pontrieux.fr/la-capitainerie/les…

Guide du Port

www.guide-du-port.com/port-pontrieux/

Map

Things to do – see www.ville-pontrieux22.fr/Patrimoine.asp

The boat tour of the Lavoirs is very good by day or night. Only Euro 4 and some pilots will do the tour in English. We really enjoyed it. Available from mid July to the end of August when the Laviors are decorated with flowers, mannequins and clothes. In September, 1 boat was still running until the end of the month, from 14:00hrs to late afternoon.

Visitez notre site : www.cotesdarmor.cci.fr/

Chateau de la Roche-Jagu: Only open for parties reserving in advance (evenings). Can anchor off if keel can settle in mud! Look out for the 500 ton dredgers during the night! Can be a rude awakening. Anchor out of mid stream!!!

Restaurants

By the River

La Sterne: Tel : 2 96 95 19 55. Modern restaurant on the quay.

Schooner Bar – does good filled baguettes as well as other stuff. Has WiFi; believe there is a charge.

In Town (15 mins from moorings)

La Creperie de Lavoir: Tel 2 96 95 33 00 Best crepes in the World!

Le Pontrev – A good Restaurant in the town is Le Pontrev opposite the Post Office in the westermost square.

La Piazza Restaurant – 18, Place Yves Le Trocquer. Tel: 02 96 11 81 29. Reservation essential. Mainly a Pizza Restaurant but other dishes available. The Pizzas are simply the best ever.  WiFi also available.

Market day
Monday 0800 to 1300 Town Square

Pilotage

If the tide is not high tide – you may need to keep to the deepest parts of the river. Normally these are at the outside of the bends. I was told that dear Dave Fletcher from Guernsey (who was Assistant Harbour Master) used to put markers down the channel each spring to help boats.

The following google maps have been recorded as they show very well where the deep water is. These is a link at the bottom of the page for the full-size images. I thought it best to record them in case they had new satellite photography which was at high tide and this important information was lost.

Approach after the lock is straight forward providing about halfway along you pass between the red and green buoys and treat the moored boats as red buoys. Around 2.2m at its shallowest.

Drinking water (standard threaded connectors) and showers are free as are electric and WiFi.